Dishoom

Visited with my husband a couple of weeks ago. The noise was hideous and the menu confusing, not helped by the hard sell on 'sharing'. Ended up with too much meat which was very salty. The portions were very small, which wasn't reflected in the price! The staff were friendly enough but we won't go back .

We booked Dishoom for a team dinner and these were the comments:

It was bollywoodtastic!”

“Food was good. Service was good. They should expand their range of gins, although I was impressed by them stocking Saffron Gin!! Stirring martinis is silly. Shaken is fine.”

“The daahl was delicious!”

All of the team were very happy with the food, the drinks and service which was attentive despite the busy atmosphere.

Amazing food and excellent hospitality

I visited this restaurant with my gf and a couple of friends based on the recommendation of the timeout smartphone app. Initial impressions were good; the food appeared well priced considering location and reputation, and the decor reflected what I would imagine cosmopolitan India to be like. This optimism was short-lived. We were told that there were no tables available and could wait downstairs at the bar to be called, not a problem at all but my party and I were less than pleased when we discovered that a service charge had been applied to our bottles of beer (330ml), taking the price from £3.90 to £4.40 (give or take 5p). Where was the service?? We asked at the bar for beer and were handed said beer. 2 out of 3 of us decided to remove the charge which called for the manager to be summonsed and he removed it without argument. Regardless, we thought the whole practice of adding a service charge to items purchased at the bar a bit cheeky. Anyhow, on to the food. We ordered the two 'ruby murray' options and both the chicken and lamb biryani dishes with intention of sharing between 4. Both of the 'ruby murray' dishes were sufficiently tasty and superior to your average indian takeaway, however, the portions were on the small side and not particularly good value. The Biryani's were quite dissapointing, bland, low on meat content and rediculously overpriced, £8.90 for a few pieces of lamb baked in rice! I've had much better biryanis twice the size and for only £5 in tooting's spice village. All in all I was disappointed but perhaps the grill options are this restaurant's strength. Come to think of it I wish i had removed the service charge from the meal because the service was also poor. Unfriendly waiter and a rather odd waitress/hostess who just milled about the place with a confused, lost look on her regency costume drama face. Either way I won't be going back.

Amazing food, amazing service, wonderful atmosphere....comes HIGHLY reccommended.

We went to Dishoom for a works xmas party. Thank you for a wonderful evening. The food, atmosphere and service where as always, impeccable.
Thank you also for your attention to detail, from the organisation beforehand, to the table décor, from the delicious food, to the attentive service ….. a huge Bombay style ‘Shukriya’ from all of us. We had a memorable evening and Dishoom was a great place to start.
Wishing a very Happy New Year!

Amazing food, drinks and service. Very good value too. The squid starter is amazing.

Went to Dishoom on the busy Saturday of the Lord Mayor's Fireworks. Have been probably ten times since they opened, all in all, not including times I've stopped by for a takeaway chai. Took my mum, who's generally sceptical of Indian restaurants. Consensus between us that it was great value - we had the Paneer Tikka, Lamb Boti Kebab, Dishoom Calamari, roomali roti, garlic naan and Vada Pau and didn't have any space left for dessert. The Paneer Tikka could have been a little more flavourful and the Roomali Roti a little thinner, but service was polite and efficient and the food all well-cooked and of a high standard. I felt standards did drop a little when they had the beach bar open, as I had a meal at the Covent Garden branch at the time and it seemed as though anything that could be pre-prepared had been, making for cold, soggy naan and the like. But all seems back to excellent business as usual. Don't miss the bacon breakfast rolls!

Went with a group of friends on a Friday night. Service was fast and friendly. Could not fault the food, maybe we were lucky with the choice of food as there were no complaints from the whole party. We were seated downstairs and certainly had no problems with odd smells as mentioned in earlier ratings, but it was quite warm. Would definitely go back again - great atmosphere.

Total disaster!
1. You pay the way to much for that you get.
2. I am sorry but I really do not want to be disappointed about traditional kitchen of Bombay, but Dishoom telling us that this is the way you get served in Bombay :(
3. Cocktails? they got 3 bottles behind the bar grey goose, amaretto and vermouth martini, oh yeah and in the menu you can observe Chai with henessy that waiter gently recommends with chocolate foundau.....the price is ridiculous, especially when you see the size of glass where the chai got served...

A bunch of us from work went for the first time and the food was amazing, service was wicked and atmosphere was perfect.... definately going back again

Had a fantastic meal here on a busy Saturday! We got amazing service, loved the cocktails and food, and generally thought it was excellent value for money. I will definitely return!

We have been to Dishoom this Saturday lunch time. We decided to go there as the TimeOut review sounded good and stuck to recommended dishes + some others. The whole experience was rather disappointing: The food is heavily overpriced for what they deliver and the portions are small. The mint tea came in tiny glasses, the daal was bland but okish. The two minute pieces of sheekh kabab were heavily overpriced and nothing special in taste,really. The gola was a tiny glass of shaved ice with sirup, although the taste combination of chili and pomegranate worked well. The creme caramel was in reality a very small flan, which was of the usual (supermarket) quality and for 4.50GBP a complete rip-off.
All in all: the selling point of this place seems to be the well done interior decoration and design and the "exotic" sounding food, not the quality of the food. Perhaps it's asking too much in this new development and this location but with Chinatown near by we definitely won't go there again. This restaurant is, unfortunately, a (rather well designed) tourist trap.

Went there with some friends for breakfast, solely on the basis of TimeOut's usually reliable reviews. Food was okay and reasonable value, but nothing to make you come back. Chai was nothing like the original Indian version (starbucks does a better imitation). Choice was ridiculously limited (about 5 items for breakfast, not more). Service was okay, in a US fake-friendly sort of way. They got an order wrong, the replacement order wrong again, and both were on the bill... An order of fruit was declined after 1pm because it was a breakfast item, and these are not served after 1pm (fruit...). All in all a decent experience, but nothing special and I won't make any effort to go back.

I am quite shocked that this restaurant was rated so highly by TimeOut. I also agree with telepathic, this feedback section also seems to be very badly moderated as there is a string of comments, all dated from the 8th of August that have clearly been left by the restaurant's people! Readers beware! Having been myself misguided by fake user ratings (and TimeOut's ludicrous praise for the place), I had lunch today at Dishoom. What a let down! I thought the food was expensive and mediocre and, given that decent Indian food is readily available in London for very cheap, I felt quite cheated! The portions are small and my Lamb Boti was over-cooked and dry. Put your efforts into the food, not in your fake comments Dishoom!

After good reviews we ate here recently. Unfortunately we were only offered a table downstairs. We ordered food immediately which arrived quickly but were bothered by the smell. Us British never like to complain but the basement restaurant smelt like a urinal. On telling the waiter this with the hope of moving upstairs they lit some incense candles. It them smelt like stale urine and incense. Food was Ok but location grim and we will never ever go again. Waste of money and quite unpleasant

it would not be hard for a mere beginner at cooking to spice their meat more delicately than at this restaurant. The 3 or 4 meat dishes that I tried were also tough, very small for the price and the dahl was really horrible! I am actually a pretty greedy person and will eat most things as not to waste them but I couldn't finish the dahl or the lamb boti due to their foulness. Many other restaurants have superior tasting and cheaper food than here.

Popped in during the day with a friend for a coffee and a cup of tea. Think they actually got on a plane to India to pick the tea leaves we waited that long...... only to be served a "glass" of what looked like dishwater, with another glass of what I think may have been milk.... half of which ended up all over the table, because I had to pour it from a glass. Tea is hot, not easy to drink out of a glass..... in the end I gave up. And such a bargain at £1.90. Customer service poor (in fact almost non existant). If they can't get a cup of tea right, not really much hope for them...... might explain why the place was empty. If you will pardon the feeble pun...... it was not my cup of tea :(

brilliant food and vibe. best chicken tikka in town!

Fantastic attention to detail, great service and a brilliant sense of humour about the place. What a refreshing change from the usual Indian dining experience - even the loos made me smile! From the authentic chai glasses to the on-site roomali roti domes, Dishoom makes for an incredibly unique and memorable eat-out. Favourite dishes include the House Daal (creamy and rich), and the Lamb Boti Kebab (perfectly spiced and tender), washed down with a flirty Bollybellini. Loved it - would go back in a heartbeat.

Had another great meal and awesome time at Dishoom!. Can't think of any other place in central London with such a fun atmosphere that does really yummy Belini's for only £5!
As a vegetarian I have to say the menu there is also spot on! The pau bhaji is a must.

I had very good experience from Dishoom staff. They were just excellent and well aware about the unique concept of Bombay Cafe. Having try various Indian restaurant, Dishoom tastes different and unique. Chai and Vada Pau bought back old memories from back home. Tried mostly Veggie dishes and they were tastes really nice and fresh. I loved the decor and specially the toilet cabinet filled with all the essentials, its like old ancient Indian royals used to keep diffrent oils into their royal bathrooms...I feel like I was in Royal wash room :P. Overall I was really impressed (Dishoomed) with food and décor...Happy that I found one good restaurant that can feed me good Indian food....

Great stuff. As usual, Dishoom delivers really well. I'm now a regular, having been coming here almost since launch. I've introduced many friends to Dishoom and it has never disappointed. Tasty food, good service, always a buzzy atmosphere.

I have just had a very disappointing meal at the Dishoom. I ordered prawns masala and was only served 4 miserable prawns. The naan was both stale and cold and it tasted as if it had been baked days ago; the rice was tasteless and the expensive poor-quality Rioja was not even served in a proper wine glass. That anybody from "Time out" should recommend that restaurant simply defeats me. One thing is now clear: in culinary matters, "Time out" is not a guide, it's a joke.

We have just spent a long weekend in London following Time Out recommendations for eating out. Arrived at Dishoom mid afternoon on Saturday with their ground floor half full but the waitress on the door hastily ushered us to their low lit basement. We said we would like to eat upstairs as it was bright and sunny only for the waitress to tell us there was nothing wrong with downstairs and that none of the upstairs tables were available (despite the restaurant having a no booking policy). We pointed to one of the empty tables but she told us it was booked. We offered to wait or come back but she remained impatient and unhelpful so we left. Very disappointing. Fortunately the other Time Out recommendations we chose were a treat food and service wise.

Great atmosphere and very friendly staff. We've tried Dishoom for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and it always exceeded our expectations. The food is great, portions are small enough to allow you to sample different dishes, and prices are great value especially compared to other places in London.

Brilliant food, brilliant cocktails, great value and unlike any other indian restaurant in London. What more can you want?

I went to Dishoom last week and had a cracking meal. We started off with the Calamari and the Samosas. The Calamari comes with quite a kick but was absolutely delicious. We then had the Masala Prawns and the Ruby Murray. Both of which were fantastic.

I couldn't fault the staff who were both knowledgeable and attentive without being overly so. I'd recommend the meantime union beer which cooled down the palette after the Calamari.

All in all we had a great meal, hence the 5 out of 5 stars (and that's the first one of those I've ever given)

A friend had her birthday dinner at Dishoom last night and it was unfortunatley a little dissapointing.

As the party was over a certain size we were forced to have the set menu (not a massive issue as most places do similar things) however, it was fairly limited in it's offerings and we all had to have same. Not ideal for vegetarians.

Samosa's to start were standard but nothing wrong with them. Got 1 each.

Then plates of chicken tikka and another grilled chicken dish were brought out, roughly 2 plates between 4, but a couple of pieces from each plate each so not too bad.

Then biryanis, a chicken curry and naan bread. very small portions, the chicken curry had 3 pieces of meat in and this was standard accross all portions we recieved. Biryanis were strangely flavoured and almost entirley rice and mushroom. No vegetable curry to accompany it as I'd normally expect.

1 piece of naan each, which was approx a fifth of a naan each.

We had to ask for more curry and rice as there wasn't enough which they did bring after a small delay.

Excellent kulfi desert, however it came on a lolly pop stick which just screamed of trying to be a bit "different" and just being a rubbish idea!

Essentailly food was ok, some of it was very wierdly flavoured but all edible. Mainly just not enough and the waiting staff did not seem to know if they had brought it all out or not.

We were only asked for a drinks order when we ordered, not again despite a table full of empty glasses.

In terms of the look, it's a very pleasant eating environment, but i just had the feeling it was trying to be too cool. Indian tapas food is very difficult to get right as most people who enjoy curry from a curry house will be full by the time they leave for a reasonable price. In most of my experiences of the tapas style I've always been left wanting more and feeling I'm being ripped off on the price. Dishoom was no different.

However, my biggest gripe was at the end of service. We paid the bill but were 6 pounds short of the "optional" 12.5% service charge added to the bill.

Certainly the service didn't warrant a tip of this magnitude and as the tip was already over £40 we didn't think much of being abit short (some people had had to leave so had not left enough cash). Anyway we were told by our waiter it was not an optional service charge.

After I expressed the issue that no restaurant is legally allowed to make an obligatory service charge on their food I was met with a shrug and were told we had to pay.

If it hadn't been my friends birthday I would have kicked off more with the manager of the place but for the sake of £6 I just paid it and left (hungry).

However I will not be returning. The attitude of the staff was appaling.

Went here on Sat night. Have to say I was thoroughly disappointed:

Dhal was bland and tasted bitter but in a burnt way.

The biyriani was terrible, so overly spiced with chilli powder that all other flavours / spices were unrecognizable (assuming there were any!). Biryiani is a delicate, flavoursome and aromatic dish, this was chilli powder and rice. I can take chilli hot better than most, god knows what someone who doesnt like their dishes too hot thinks of this as it was so overpowering.

The lamb chops were burnt and not tender.

The bread was burnt and was a really small portion.

The samosas were pleasant but just average, and I think they need to be better given that the staters is very limited in selection.

One dish that was OK was the 'Ruby Murray', but seriously it was OK, a sort of 6.5 / 10. When you only do one curry a day, its got to be a corker and up in the 8 or 9 / 10 category.

Asked for extra sauces and didnt get them. The waiter, whilst being a nice enough fella, was too busy giving it the chit chat and beleived his own hype about how great the restaurant was. Believe me its not. Its only as good as the next review and not the diatribe that is clearly spoken to the new waiting staff recruits.

Portion sizes are also quite small, which I normally accept if the ingredients are top class, well cooked and great flavours.

If i'd never been to India this experience might put me off, believe me Dishoom (the Bombay Cafe experience) is nothing like the real thing.

Waiter asked for feedback, gave it to him and he was surprised. He told his boss who in full view of me looked across and shrugged me off. I wasnt expecting a discount but if you run a restaurant and are seen by your customer being given poor feedback by your staff at least have the decency to acknoledge it yourself with the customer and at least pretend you will take it on board. Sniffs of being a victim of its own hype and / or location. With a Covent Garden location bordering leicester square its always going to get flow from the tourist trail.

Couple beside us echoed our thoughts saying that they had had better indian food in Ohio (US).

Dishoom does badly what others like Masala Zone, Busaba eathai, Wahacca do incredibly well.

Won't be back ever.

dishoom was a big disappointment, we had a booking for 2 and we had to wait 2 hours for our table. We should have just left knowing that the food was not going to be as great as it claims to be. Our server was over stretched managing a number of tables so again we had to wait to be served. Our mains arrived before starters and drinks just arrived as we ordered our tea. The food wasn't exception- cold starters. Complete disorganization. The evening was nothing but a big let down, Dishoom is a indian restaurant trying to claim west end prestige but better off being located on your high street- at least with high street restaurants you know what to expect.

We went to Dishoom last night and had a fantastic evening. Our waitress was a lovely girl from New York who was friendly without being over-bearing, and gave some great recommendations, despite being a vegetarian! The food was full of complex flavours, with the Biriyani being a highlight. Light and yet rich, served in a pastry-sealed pot, it really hit the spot. Other highlights were the paneer stuffed mushrooms and the wonderfully creamy rose and cardamom lassi. Not to be missed. The whole experience was a bargain at just £30 a head for more food than we could each and a couple of decent bottles of beer. Fantastic.

I went there yesterday for an anniversary meal, and we weren't disappointed. Friendly staff and delicious food in large tapas style portions. Unlike traditional UK Indian restaurants, they rely more on taste than heat for their food, which was greatly appreciated.

A couple of dishes each was plenty, plus some Indian-style chips, and couple of great desserts. They have Indian and European crowd-pleaser desserts, so plenty of choice. Interesting and unusual decor (though presumably not unusual if you've ever been to a Bombay café before), though perhaps a little loud for my liking - could do with some noise dampening.

Fantastic cocktails too.

Overall, then - a great restaurant, highly recommended, though perhaps not perfect for a romantic meal because of the volume.

Was in Dishoom last night. Very delicious and with a cool vibe too! Very nice staff. The only downside was at the door we were told a 20 min wait, we ended up waiting closer to an hour for a table of 2. The thing is we still would have waited if they had said an hour - the difference would be that we would not be frustrated in the last 15 minutes like we were last night. However the food is definitely worth the wait and the bar does a great job of keeping you happy with the cocktails - especially the St Martins (not suitable for a very empty stomack but a must-try for anyone who likes "chilli").

Dishoom. Dinner last night at Dishoom was delicious. The food was amazing: we selected a wide variety of dishes to share between our group and found that really high quality Indian food does work! The attention to detail in the decor was something of a rare treat - this restaurant is obviously run by people who care that the whole experience is good. Can't wait to go again.

Had lunch at Dishoom yesterday and this was my fourth meal here, and once again, it was great! Highly recommend for something a bit different to what you expect of an indian restaurant in London.

Try - Chilli Cheese toast, dahl, prawns and a whole selection of grilled meat..and gola for dessert.. Chahito for drinks.. you won't be disappointed!

Very cool. We really enjoyed ourselves. Brilliant vibe, tasty food, loved the cocktails. Service slightly over-enthusiastic. Loved the grilled prawns, black daal and the famous lamb chops, which are all over twitter. Chilli martini nice but slightly too much kick. Liked the shaved ice desserts (apparently very authentic) but the chocolate fondant felt a little out of place, although it wasn't bad. One of our party had spent some time in Bombay and confirmed the Time Out view of the decor - that it's very much like one of the old cafes in Mumbai.

Great Indian restaurant, staff were extremely friendly and accommodating. It is an informal laid back eating establishment, but still feels upmarket.

Ordered a number of dishes and while some were not the best I've tasted on average it was extremely tasty and filling.

Not sure what else you could expect from such a small place. Prices are very reasonable and compared to other places like Imli it blows it away. All staff speak fluent english, not that common in London unfortunately.

All in all a great place

I liked the look of Dishoom, but sadly this stopped as soon as the food arrived. Overcooked Calamari (although tasty) was a minor disapointment, less so was the Lamb Biryani, which was bland and overcooked. I was really looking forward to Dishoom after the great write-up it received in Time Out, but for us 'this time' it was overated.

"..good quality white bread and cheese - both hard to find in Bombay..."
Clearly, you have not ventured out enough in Mumbai. The quality of bakery products in Mumbai is far superior to the expensive trash rolled out in London bakeries. For eg: take the pastries.. all cream/sugar coated and dry in London, while the cheapest bakery in Mumbai will give you the best moist and spongy pastry.